Source: Let us value the prevailing peace — VP Chiwenga – herald
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
ZIMBABWEANS must value the prevailing peace and avoid unnecessary conflict as a way of paying tribute to the country’s fallen heroes and heroines, Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga has said.
He said this yesterday while addressing a memorial service for his late brother-in-law Cde Peter Matopi in Chegore village, Ward 11, Mutare district.
“People like my brother-in-law Peter Matopi and many others left the country for training in different countries and came back to fight for the independence of the country,” he said.
“They went through difficult situations, some of which will make us shed tears if we recount their ordeal. People died because of hunger.
“People died because of different diseases, some died because we did not have medicines. If you have ever seen lice that grow tails, there were jigger fleas (matekenya); they went through all this. They soldiered on and no one looked back. We knew that not all of us would return home, but those that returned served the purpose of narrating the events of the liberation struggle.”
It is also through peace and unity, VP Chiwenga said, that the country will be blessed.
“Those that do not know the trials and tribulations of the liberation struggle may not understand this. If you have not met the struggles and difficulties of the war, you may not understand it.
“It is against this background that it’s important to safeguard the peace we are enjoying as a tribute to our heroes and heroines who paid the supreme sacrifice for our independence. We want the departed heroes and heroines like Cde Peter Matopi to look back and tell the Lord that look at the peaceful and united nation that we left behind. They will plead for economic upliftment on our behalf, and the heavens will not refuse that. The idea of poking each other’s eyes out is not good.”
In his speech, as he introduced the Vice President, Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Advocate Misheck Mugadza said the province has done well to ensure food self-sufficiency and will remain grateful to the country’s leadership for putting in place measures that ensured a conducive environment to achieve that feat.
Speakers at the memorial service described the late Cde Matopi as a God-fearing family man who lived in peace with family, neighbours and workmates.
The late Cde Matopi undertook military training at Mgagao in Tanzania in 1975 and came back at the height of the liberation struggle.
After the liberation struggle, Cde Matopi joined the Zimbabwe National Army in the Zimbabwe Armoured Cars Regiment under the Mechanised Brigade at Inkomo Barracks, where he worked from 1981 to 2004.
Cde Matopi also took part in Zimbabwe Defence Forces military operations in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was a recipient of the Zimbabwe Campaign Medal after participating in the peacekeeping efforts in neighbouring Mozambique during years of civil strife in that country.
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